Don't let her go
by hpgirl4ever97
Summary: Lily realizes her feelings for James, but is it too late? My first fanfic.


**Disclaimer: As much as I wish that I owned these characters, I don't. Anything that you recognize is probably not mine. **

**Note at bottom of page. **

Don't let her go 

Lily Evans was sitting by the fire in the common room. It was one of those days where all you wanted to do was curl up with a book and read all day. For being late March, it was rather gloomy and overcast. To almost anyone who walked into the room, they would see Lily and assume she wanted to be left alone with her enormous book. After all, she looked like she was completely oblivious to the rest of the world.

In reality, she wasn't even really reading the words of "The Greatest Charms of the 20th Century." She was thinking of a certain black-haired boy who seemed to be dominating her thoughts a lot lately. Lily knew exactly why she thought about him so much, and it had nothing to do with the way he had pranked the Slytherins of their year.

As she was thinking this, the person in mind, James Potter, walked in through the portrait hole. He was walking rather slowly, with his shoulders slumped and expression sad.

Lily watched him for a moment with some concern. She had never seen him like this before. Normally, he would be strutting in, looking for his fellow sixth-year Marauders. Well, maybe he wouldn't quite be strutting. He seemed to have been deflating his enormous ego lately. Why, she had actually held a decent conversation with him just the other day, no yelling or hexes involved!

When James was about to walk up to the boy's dormitories, she made up her mind.

"Hey, James!"

James turned to see who was calling him. His hazel eyes lit up as he saw the fiery haired girl wave him over. He bounded over.

"Hi Lily!" he said excitedly, happy that it was her that initiated the conversation.

"What's up?" Lily asked hesitantly. She wasn't sure what to expect.

His face quickly darkened, then turned sad. "My girlfriend, Tabitha, broke up with me."

Lily sat there, unsure of what to say. Whatever it was that she was expecting to hear, it certainly wasn't this. James had had countless other girlfriends before. Why did this breakup affect him so much?

James continued. "She said something about me not acting serious about the relationship."

"Well I certainly hope you wouldn't act like me." Sirius Black interjected as he walked over.

James glared at the shaggy haired boy. "Padfoot, that joke has been old ever since first year.

"That long, eh?"

"Sirius."

"Sorry…" Sirius retreated to the other side of Lily's chair.

"But I'm just so devastated!" James continued. "I really thought we could get somewhere in that relationship."

At these words, Lily froze. Maybe she had pushed him too far, maybe he saw her as no more than a friend now, maybe he…didn't like her anymore. These were the thoughts that were racing through her mind. Maybe she realized her feelings too late…

James looked at her suddenly. "Hey Lily, you're a girl!"

Lily smirked. "Glad you finally noticed, Potter."

He made a frustrated noise. "No, that's not what I meant. What I meant to say was, you know what Tabitha is possibly thinking, right?"

She chewed her lip nervously. She was now faced with a very difficult choice. If she answered what she honestly thought Tabitha was thinking, she risked losing James. One look into his eyes, however, told her that he didn't want her to lie to him.

Lily sighed. "Yeah, I suppose so." James perked up a bit at that statement.

"Really?"

"Mmm hmm. She wants you to grow up, start acting your age. That includes no pranking innocent second years, not acting like you're king of the world, and treating her like you truly appreciate her." Lily said.

He looked even more depressed, if that was even possible. "Wow. That…that seems like a hard list of things to do."

"Yes, well." Lily said quickly, not wanting to ask her next question. She was silent for a few moments.

"James, can I ask you something kind of personal?"

He opened his mouth to answer, when Sirius cut in.

"Of course he minds, it's _personal, _Evans, I mean, you can't just…" He was cut off by both of their glares.

"Sure, Lily. I can't guarantee that I'll answer it though."

Lily took a deep breath. "James, do you love her?"

This unexpected question shocked him into silence for a few minutes. She watched his face as he thought about her question. Confusion, curiosity, sadness, and finally, joy, crossed his expression as he tried to figure out how to answer her. At last, with a smile spread across his face, he replied with one word that shattered Lily's world.

"Yes."

She released the breath she hadn't realized she had been holding. She gave James a small smile and replied,

"There's your answer."

"What?"

"You love her."

"Yes, but…"

"James, if you really, truly, and honestly love her…" Lily trailed off. Tears were threatening to spill over onto her cheeks, but she hid her face with her red hair. She took another deep breath and said, her voice slightly wavering,

"Don't let her go."

Watching the fire had never felt more comforting to her than it did now. Lily watched as the flames danced and burned, and let a single tear fall down her cheek.

"Why did you do that?"

She jumped at the sound of Sirius's voice, hastily wiping the tear away. The sixth year sat right beside her on the couch, scowling at her.

"Do what?" Lily asked uncertainly. It was hard to judge his emotion, especially in the firelight.

"Tell James to keep going after Tabitha."

She stiffened, not exactly wanting to talk about this particular subject. He looked at her, waiting for her to answer. When she didn't answer him for a few minutes, he sighed.

"Lily, I know how you feel." She shot him an incredulous look.

"And how would you happen to know that?" she snapped.

"Well, there's this thing called magic…"

She laughed and shoved him. "Yes, I know that, you goof. But really, how could you possibly know what I'm feeling?"

Sirius looked, well, serious. "It's that look in your eyes. It tells me everything."

Lily tilted her head to the side. "Explain." she said quietly.

"Well, whenever you see him, your eyes light up in the same way his do when he sees you. When you see him with Tabitha, they look sad, and slightly murderous. You never look that way at anybody else."

Lily thought about these words. She had to say, he was right for once. She always felt happy and had butterflies in her stomach when she saw James, and she could not deny that she felt murderous impulses when she saw his girlfriend. She looked up at Sirius' eyes, and slowly nodded.

"I'm right, aren't I?"

"Yes." She sighed. "You, for once in your life, are indeed right."

Instead of taking offense at her words, the Marauder asked one more question.

"You said if you love someone, you shouldn't let them go. You love him, don't you?"

Lily gave him a small smile. How he knew, she wasn't sure. This time, she let the tears spill out of her eyes as she whispered her answer.

"That's why I let him go."

**Hey guys (=^.^=) **

**So this is my first fanfic, and I have to say, I'm pretty proud of it. Kinda short but that's fine with me. I'm debating whether I want to add a second chapter to tell what happens to Lily and James, but I wanna know what you all think. Please review and tell me what you thought of it and if I should continue it. **

**Thanks, **

**M&M**


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